Hello from one of several cute cafes in the little dive town of Amed, Bali, where I’ll be spending the next several months. But first, Hong Kong.

Hong Kong was great! It was a bit of an adjustment to go back to tropical weather after some cold days and nights in Japan but certainly a change for the better. While I didn’t approach my time in Hong Kong with any specific plans, I actually managed to see and do a fair bit. In no particular order, since I can’t remember, here are some highlights:

• I went for a quick urban hike to Jardine’s Lookout. This spot on Hong Kong island has amazing views out over the city, where you can see the unreal density of high rises. There were lots of signs about wild pigs, and at the end I did see a couple. They’re large!
• I went to the Hong Kong art museum, which was cool. It’s a big flashy building on the waterfront, and each floor has a delightful area with benches in front of huge windows where you can catch your breath and gawk at the Hong Kong Island skyline across the water. Some highlights for me were the gorgeous paintings on scrolls or screens, Leo Wong Kwai-kuen’s photography, and the frankly astonishing collection of little snuff bottles, most of which had elaborate carvings or painted decorations or were simply made of beautiful materials.
• The food. It is, in fact, just as good as advertised. I had noodles with dumplings, I had dim sum (accidentally ordering so much that the waitress laughed as she dropped off the last plate), I had BBQ pork and duck, I had eggplant and mystery meat from cheap takeaway spots, I had allegedly Michelin-mentioned pan fried Shanghai-style buns. Pretty much universally delicious.
• I went for a nice long hike in the new territories. Before arriving I had thought that Hong Kong was all city, but actually it’s made up of several islands, and the part that’s connected to the Chinese mainland is mostly mountains covered in dense green. Look up some pictures of the New Territories in Hong Kong, it’s beautiful! My hike was to the east, in Sai Kung Country Park. It turned out that this is a popular area for both beaching and hiking, and while it’s a ways from Kowloon it’s also accessible by speedboat, so it was quite crowded with both hikers and beachers. The crowds and the fact that the trail was a concrete sidewalk the whole way were a bit of the bummer, but the scenery was spectacular. And for as much as I like to complain about other people, the little beach towns saved me, because if I hadn’t been able to refill my water twice (I ended up drinking almost 5 liters of water and another 1.5 liters of electrolyte drink) I would’ve dropped dead from dehydration.
• I visited Nan Lian Garden and Chi Lin nunnery, to the northeast of Kowloon. The garden is beautiful and peaceful, and I especially enjoyed the display they had of scale models of various prime examples of Chinese wooden architecture, mostly temples and castles and such. The models themselves were made of really beautiful wood and extremely pleasing to look at. The nunnery is sort of connected to the garden and had cool buildings and lots of golden statues of the buddha and various other holy figures.

So, yeah, Hong Kong. I recommend visiting!

And now, finally, I’m in Bali. I am very, very excited to be here. It’s been a long time now that I’ve known I want to do more freediving, become an instructor, and start teaching. For one reason or another that plan has been delayed a few times, but now I’m finally here to follow through. Bali is great—the landscapes are stunning, the food is incredible, the people are genuinely friendly, and everything is cheap. There are parts of Bali that are so overrun with influencers and drunk Australians as to be unliveable, but thankfully Amed, where the freediving is, is about two hours from those parts of Bali. It’s pretty much a perfect mix, touristy enough to have good coffee and lots of restaurants and accommodations, but still quiet and populated by people who are just here living their lives.

I spent my first few days here just dealing with administrative stuff, hitting the bank and getting a SIM card and finding a place to live long term. After that I spent a few days doing… very, very little. Amed is an easy place to do nothing in, and with the NBA playoffs just starting I have to make a deliberate effort not to spend all morning every morning just watching basketball.

In the past few days I’ve finally gotten out diving again though, and wow does it feel good. To warm up for a dive session what I do is pull down the rope until I’m 10 meters underwater, then hold on to the rope, close my eyes, relax, and just hang. You feel… nothing. You’re weightless, your hearing is muffled, your eyes are closed, and you don’t realize how much you can hear and feel yourself constantly breathing until you’re not. My connection to time completely melts away. It’s just the most peaceful feeling.

I’m taking it slowly with the depth—my body isn’t adapted to the pressure right now, and the last thing I need is to rush and hurt myself. Eventually I’m looking forward to pushing myself, diving deeper, improving technique, and trying new disciplines. But for now I’m already thrilled just to be warming up.